Gilead Pays $45 Million to Settle Texas Medicaid Kickback Claims
Gilead Sciences agreed to pay $45 million to settle allegations brought by the Texas attorney general and a whistleblower that the company paid kickbacks to improperly influence prescriptions billed to Texas Medicaid. The whistleblower lawsuit alleged Gilead paid a third-party company to deploy registered nurses to recommend its drugs and offered free support services to doctors in exchange for prescribing, practices that allegedly led to false claims submitted to government programs. The case traces back to lawsuits filed roughly a decade ago by Health Choice Advocates and related firms against multiple drugmakers over similar nurse-outreach arrangements. Gilead is the latest pharmaceutical company to reach a settlement with Texas over these marketing practices.